Every company shall, at the first annual general meeting, appoint an individual or a firm as an auditor who shall hold office from the conclusion of that meeting till the conclusion of its sixth annual general meeting and thereafter till the conclusion of every sixth meeting.

Before such an appointment is made, the written consent of the auditor to such appointment, and a certificate from the auditor or audit firm, shall be obtained from the auditor.

The company shall inform the auditor concerned of his or its appointment, and also file a notice of such appointment with the Registrar within fifteen days of the meeting in which the auditor is appointed. This notice is to be filed in R-Form ADT-1

Term appointment of Auditor/ Audit Form has to be done by:

●      A listed company or

●      All unlisted public companies having paid up share capital of rupees ten crore or more;

●      All private limited companies having paid up share capital of rupees fifty crore or more;

●      All unlisted public  and private companies having having public borrowings from financial institutions, banks or public deposits of rupees fifty crores or more.

No of Terms:

(a) an individual as auditor for one term of five consecutive years; and

(b) an audit firm as auditor for two terms of five consecutive years:

Cooling-off Period:

an individual auditor : five years from the completion of his term

an audit firm: for five years from the completion of such term:

As on the date of appointment,  no audit firm having a common partner or partners to the other audit firm, whose tenure has expired in a company immediately preceding the financial year, shall be appointed as auditor of the same company for a period of five years:

Appointment of Auditor can be as follows:

First Auditor

Appointment / Re-appointment of Auditor after term ends of First Auditor

Appointment in Casual Vacancy